Friday!

It's Friday and a long weekend!  I went in to work an hour late and only worked a half day...all days should be like this!  Angie went in to school to get her room in order for Tuesday's 1st day of school.  It sounds like she just got a new 5th grade student too!

Hopefully lots of fun, football (opening college weekend!), and relaxing this weekend. Oh, and an Iowa Hawkeye win on Saturday!

Pinocchio and 15yr old boys

What a weekend with the KenneyKrewe!  Lots of fun and "kids say the darnedest things"!  Yesterday I was going to fix a pork butt in the crock pot and was telling Mom over Skype about it.  Katelyn was behind me and started to bust a gut laughing..."pork butt"...she thought it was hilarious.  Later we were watching Shrek 3 together and she started rolling again when one of the Shrek babies farted and lit up the fireplace.  She has the humor of a 15yr old boy!

During the same movie Pinocchio is trying to answer a question without lying and rambles on and on while confusing those who asked the initial question.  One guess on who that is...anyone?  Emma!  She does that all the time!

Nicholas was watching the movie but he was also outside some "sharpening his knives".  He's got some sticks he's been rubbing to a point off of a brick.

The joys in the KenneyKrewe!

Ups & Downs

Some ups & downs for the kids this week.  The training wheels came off Nicholas's bike and in about 2 days he's got himself riding his bike like a madman!  He even slams the brake on and can skid a little!


Katelyn spent Thursday night at her friends house and then they went to Yorktown beach on Friday.  She fell off some of the big rocks and got some pretty good cuts and scrapes on her knee and foot.  The ones on the foot are almost like puncture points.  I guess they bled a lot and then mixed with the sand and the water running off her body so it looked pretty bad! She was brought home and Ang got it all cleaned up and put back together.  In the end not very bad at all (she went to gymnastics practice Fri night), but will just have to make sure it stays clean to avoid infection.

Roaring Like A Lion

After a rough day that life throws at you once awhile it's wonderful to have something shake you out of your funk and say look at this!  Today was one of those rough days, but after I dropped Emma off at her Community Group Nicholas & I were driving to Wal-Mart to get a few things and on the radio "God's Not Dead, Like a Lion" by the Newsboys came on.  We sang together as loud as we could and laughed and smiled together when we were done!  It was awesome and I'm thankful for the reminder of how lucky I am.


My God is not dead
He's surely alive
He's living on the inside
Roaring like a lion

Thought of the Day

 “Watch the way you talk. ... Say only what helps, each word a gift” (Ephesians 4:29, Msg)

Tired Dogs

Whew, my feet hurt!  We've had some fun the past few days enjoying the visit with Paula & Michael.  We've been to Colonial Williamsburg, Yorktown battlefield, Yorktown beach, and the Victory Center.  Lots of walking, lots of eating, and lots of fun!

Third Eye

Do you have a third eye?  Maybe I need to explain some.  I read an article the other day from a guy named Dr. David.  In the article he talked about "the third eye on the blink".  My mind started wandering to the rock band Third Eye Blind









but that wasn't it.

Here is how he described the third eye: "The third eye is that part of us that watches what we say and do. It is an ability that we cultivate to watch not only what we say and do, but to watch the reaction of the person we are talking to"

Sometimes we use the excuse that our words our driven by truth, but we're oblivious to pain we cause. In my mind we shouldn't be liars and we shouldn't hold the truth back because we may hurt feelings, but we should speak the truth in love and in grace.
Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will grow to become in every respect the mature body of him who is the head, that is, Christ. (Ephesians 4:15)

So how can we use this Third Eye?  Here's a list he gave with some of my thoughts after:

First, listen to everything you say.  Whew, that's a hard one!  How often do things come out of our mouth as soon as we think of it.  Do we take any responsibility for the reaction of those we are speaking to, or do we consider it their problem.

Second, slow things down.  The old saying of "think before you speak".  So easy for me to tell my kids that, but it seems much harder for me to do the same.  We should try to consider the impact of our words and then choose words that are encouraging and not hurtful.

Third, ask how what we said was received.  A simple question like how do you feel about what I said?  Practice should make this easier, I know it's not a typical question I ask.

Fourth, consider their reaction.  Did you get a positive reaction or were the words just hurtful?  Did you say the words to bring positiveness or growth to the situation/relationship or were they simply a "jab" or used to cause injury?

Fifth, take responsibility for our words and the impact.  People usually aren't hurt by any ole words, it was probably something we said.  Take responsibility.

Finally, agree to speak words of encouragement to one another.  Cultivate your Third Eye.

Do you have a Third Eye?

Pix of Day

From Aug'08

Week in Review

Some activities from this week...
- School prep begins with shopping for supplies, backpacks, and clothes.  The kids all got new backpacks and have already filled them up with new school supplies.
- Emma moans everyday that she can't wait for school to start!
- Katelyn has been pet sitting a tortoise named Fluffy.  She's always said she's wanted a turtle, but after having Fluffy she's changed her mind!
- Katelyn has been more focused on gymnastics this year and Angie says she's been doing great
- Nicholas made a laptop computer from some cardboard...he's got some awesome creativity in him.  He must get it from Angie...
- My work week was busy!  Late nights and even worked at home one night until 10pm!
- Went out to dinner with some friends last night to a Mexican restaurant we haven't been to before...it was really good!
- Angie's arm is looking really good...and the new skin underneath is SOFT
- We may go see the new Ice Age movie with the kids today

How was your week?

Sunday Stuff

A packed day yesterday with the KenneyKrewe.  Angie & I volunteered at church in the morning, I made a Goodwill trip with some old clothes from Katelyn (she's had a growth spurt and is sooo happy!), Ang got all the receipts caught up in our budget, did some laundry, the kids and I enjoyed some time in the pool, we went to church in the afternoon, Angie & I went out to dinner at Surf Rider, and we had a family meeting to end the night.  A good day!

Road Trip

Emma, Nicholas & I made a quick trip down to NC to see Dad & Mary.  Angie didn't go because of her hand and Katelyn had gymnastics practice on Friday night so she stayed home too.  We enjoyed our short trip and had some fun in the car during the drive.  On the way home tonight we were all 3 looking at the clouds and telling each other what we saw.  Amazing how each person can see something completely different in the same cloud!  Best of all is a quote from Nicholas;  "Rufus (dog) & I pee almost the same". (Mary was rolling!)

Thought of the Day

“In the book of life, the answers aren’t in the back.”  ~ Charlie Brown